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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Ice Dancing-- Is it really a sport?

According to this article from Slate.com, Ice Dancing is not a sport. I beg to differ. Ice Dancing is physically and mentally demanding. Not only are the athlete trying their best on the ice, they have to do everything in tandem with their partner or else any trick they do do will been seen as only mediocre.

The natives of Michigan Meryl Davis and Charlie White became the first American gold medalists ever in Ice Dancing. So why is there backlash towards these gold medalists. Did they not practice hours upon hours to prepare for Sochi? If Luge, Bobsled, and Skeleton are considered sports which require the participants to be very athletic, why not Ice Dancing? Ice Dancing like gymnastics has to combine brawn with beauty. They have to dance doing jumps that require the most careful preparation and strong skills. Then they also have to do it looking graceful and pretending that they didn't just break a sweat.

Greg M. Cooper. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

So is Ice Dancing a sport. Yes, it is. It is something that takes years to prepare or if you are White and Davis it takes 17 years to be exact.